While Amazon is investing in their in-house publishing program, Barnes & Noble is headed in the opposite direction as part of their repositioning as a technology company, with bankers currently eliciting bids for Sterling Publishing. The WSJ reported the development on Wednesday, citing “people familiar with the situation,” and a BN spokesperson would not comment. But sources with direct knowledge of the offering indicate to us indicate that it has been in circulation for at least two months if not longer. Someone acquainted with the sale’s progress indicates that there is considerable interest in the company. There will be at […]
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Alex George’s A Good American Tops the February 2012 Indie Next List
Here are the ABA’s latest monthly picks: 1. A Good American: A Novel, by Alex George Defending Jacob: A Novel, by William Landay The Snow Child: A Novel, by Eowyn Ivey The Mirage: A Novel, by Matt Ruff A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty: A Novel, by Joshilyn Jackson The Flight of Gemma Hardy: A Novel, by Margot Livesey The Art of Hearing Heartbeats: A Novel, by Jan-Philipp Sendker History of a Pleasure Seeker: A Novel, by Richard Mason The Chalk Girl: A Mallory Novel, by Carol O’Connell The Odds: A Love Story, by Stewart O’Nan Contents May Have Shifted: A […]
People: Schwartzman Named Executive Editor at Dutton; Agent Hughes Moves to DCL, Costa Awards, and More
Next week Jill Scwhartzman will join Dutton as executive editor, reporting to Ben Sevier. She was most recently a senior editor at Hyperion. Amy Hughes is joining Dunow, Carlson and Lerner as an agent, specializing in non-fiction in the areas of history, wellness and health, cultural studies, and memoir. She was previously an agent at McCormick & Williams. Ethan Bassoff has joined Lippincott Massie McQuilkin as an agent. He was previously at InkWell Management, after beginning his publishing career as an event host and manager at Brookline Booksmith in Boston. He will continue to focus on literary and commercial fiction, narrative […]
BN Finishes 2011 With Store Closings, and More Bookselling News
Barnes & Noble closed a number of stores across the country at the end of the year, nearly all of them apparently due to lease expirations. The bookseller typically has a large number of leases up for renewal in any given year; they indicated in 2011 that 129 leases will expire and/or renew in 2012, and the company has shown a willingness to close locations where they believe the revised rent is unsustainable. Local news reports indicate that at least seven stores have closed in the following cities (we are awaiting confirmation from the company): Prescott, AZ Los Angeles, CA […]
Investor Buys A Million Shares in Books-A-Million For 6.38 Percent Stake
Late last week, a filing with the SEC revealed that Roseland, NJ-based investor Harsha Gowda has acquired a little more than one million shares of Books-A-Million stock through his five-year-old investment firm Blueshore Capital Management. The acquisition gives Gowda a 6.38 percent stake in BAMM, accumulated over the past year with a “big increase during the recent sharp price drop,” he said in an interview with us Thursday morning. (The stock has been as high as $6.10 a share during the year, but it now trades at $2.30 a share.) Gowda’s fund focuses on buying stock in companies “that we […]
Bookselling: NY’s Boroughs to Lose One, Gain Two; Bodhi Tree to Vacate Space and Fresno Store to Close
Aurora Anaya-Cerda will open a bookstore, La Casa Azul, on East Harlem’s E. 103rd Street in spring 2012 after raising the needed $40,000. Organizers of the Word Up pop-up bookstore at Broadway and W. 176th Street is negotiating to stay permanently. Organized by Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, the store has been there rent-free for five months, and is negotiating a paying lease and looking to raise funds for what has become a community arts center. As we clipped earlier in the week, the NYDN says that Astoria’s Seaburn Bookstore will close rather than renew their lease after 16 years in […]